Monday, June 05, 2017

New Delhi: In a first, India's aviation regulator has asked an airline to check the mental "alertness" of 10 of its pilots and see if they are fit enough to be allowed to fly.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) took this unprecedented step after the 10 pilots wrote to the regulator, opposing its proposed move to double the notice period of commanders to a year. Since the DGCA has sought public comments to decide on this proposal, these pilots of one airline sent the same to the regulator.
The letter, which was addressed to the joint director-general, erroneously described him as the "joint director, DGCA" , which is several notches below his position.
The joint DG wrote back, saying: "This shows your absent state of mind and not fit condition for flying as the alertness required to perform cockpit tasks appears to be missing. With absent mind, cockpit checks performed in a casual manner may create hazardous situation leading to compromise with safety of aircraft operations."
The official asked the head of operations to check the "lev of alertness" of these cockpit crew and see if they are fit to fly. It is learnt that at least two of these pilots were grounded but this could not be verified.
05/06/17 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India